catapult magazine

catapult magazine
 

Vol 1, Num 4 :: 2002.10.25 — 2002.11.07

 
 

Single gives sample of upcoming U2 album

U2’s new single “Electrical Storm,” which was officially released on the radio on September 9, was just released on CD on October 21. The single is out to promote U2’s new Best Of 1990-2000 album that is due out November 4. The different singles that were released are: 

    • CD 1, which has the songs “Electrical Storm” (William Orbit Mix), “New York” (Nice Mix), and “New York” (Nasty Mix). The “New York” tracks were remixed by KLF’s Jimmy Cauty. 
    • CD 2, which has the songs “Electrical Storm” and a live medley of “Bad,” “40,” and “Where The Streets Have No Name” from Boston during the Elevation tour.
    • DVD, which has “Electrical Storm” (William Orbit Mix) and the video to that song directed by Anton Corbijn. There are also some sound bites from the band and other photographs taken by Corbijn.

Both versions of this song are unique and both sound excellent. The William Orbit Mix tends to be lighter throughout the song. Synthesizers are used to give a light atmospheric sound, along with xylophone effects, which could also be coming from a synthesizer.

In the regular version, The Edge starts out with a nice guitar part in the beginning, and then Larry kicks in on the drums at the beginning of the chorus. Bono wails out the lines “Let’s see colours that have never been seen, Let’s go places no one else has been.” It’s great. The song wraps up with ghostly sounding strings. It wouldn’t surprise me if the sounds were coming from The Edge’s guitar, considering what he can do with a single instrument.

Bono told the Daily Telegraph, a UK paper, about the meaning and origin of “Electrical Storm.” He said, “It’s about a couple in a room, feeling a storm brewing in the sky outside and equating that to the pressure they feel in their relationship. I think it captures a sense of unease I feel around the world, especially in America, an air of nervous anticipation. It’s not an overtly political song, but I don’t think we could have written it before what happened in New York.”

“Electrical Storm” is another great U2 song that is filled with energy and powerful lyrics. I enjoy it when they write a song that really can’t be “spiritualized,” because it seems Christians sometimes try to spiritualize everything they write by including overtly Christian lyrics. Every song that we listen to doesn’t need to be spiritual, because we can relate to things in other ways.

U2’s new Best Of album will be released in two different formats. One is just the regular Best Of disc and the other is the Best Of/B-Sides two-CD set, which will include an extra disc with random B-sides from their singles released in 1990-2000. The songs included in the Best Of disc are:

  • Even Better Than the Real Thing
  • Mysterious Ways
  • Beautiful Day
  • Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)
  • One
  • Miss Sarajevo
  • Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
  • Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
  • Gone (new mix)
  • Until The End of The World
  • The Hands That Built America (new song)
  • Discotheque (new mix)
  • Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me
  • Staring At the Sun (new mix)
  • Numb (new mix)
  • The First Time

The B-Sides disc will include:

  • Lady With The Spinning Head (Extended Dance Mix)
  • Dirty Day (Junk Day Mix)
  • Summer Rain
  • Electrical Storm
  • North & South Of The River
  • Your Blue Room
  • Happiness Is A Warm Gun (The Gun Mix)
  • Salome (Zooromancer Mix)
  • Even Better Than The Real Thing (Perfecto Mix)
  • Numb (Give Me Some More Dignity Mix)
  • Mysterious Ways (Solar Plexus Club Mix)
  • If God Will Send His Angels (Big Yam Mix)
  • Lemon (Jeep Mix)
  • Discotheque (Hexidecimal Mix)

If you buy the Best Of/B-Sides combo, you will also get a DVD that will give a history of U2 in the 90’s. The Best Of/B-Sides is only supposed to be available for the first week of release. Both versions and the video of “Electrical Storm” can be heard and watched at u2.com in the “Exclusives” section.

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